Give him a shot

Not a chance

I just see him as already having years of experience in an NHL assistant coach role, which appears to be how most coaches transition to NHL head coach, and that AHL head coach almost seems like a backwards step.

It seems to me based on my very limited knowledge, that once you break the barrier of AHL to NHL, going back in any sense seems like a demotion. It seems easier to go from assistant to head coach, rather than AHL head coach to NHL head coach.

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It can. Although quite a few incredible coaches in the league came from the AHL.

Heck he will probably stay in the AHL until a team wants him as head. He was an assistant for years and never once mentioned in head coach discussions. This is a better path to head coach for him.

I expect he'll be an NHL head coach at some point in the next couple of years, and likely a pretty good one, but fans have way too much animosity towards the organization for their lateral movements over the past decade. Unless the Condors win the Calder Cup, naming Woodcroft as the next Oilers head coach would be a PR nightmare.

I love what he’s doing but it’s still too early imo. Even if the Condors won a championship I might still be saying that.

He’s a young coach so it’s probably best for him to be a head coach in the A for a few years. Definitely best for us if we keep him there too. He knows the guys and we need our prospects to develop. I’d love for the next crop of prospects to benefit from good coaching next year too. He’s got a great attitude and we need that, let it start from the roots and hopefully the positivity grows and reaches the NHL players when some guys graduate to that level.

I just see him as already having years of experience in an NHL assistant coach role, which appears to be how most coaches transition to NHL head coach, and that AHL head coach almost seems like a backwards step.

It seems to me based on my very limited knowledge, that once you break the barrier of AHL to NHL, going back in any sense seems like a demotion. It seems easier to go from assistant to head coach, rather than AHL head coach to NHL head coach.

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You still have to prove somewhere that you can run your own bench. If you don’t you can be regarded as a career assistant. That’s what he’s doing now. Nobody thought of him as head coaching material while he was here as an assistant. If he wants a job as an assistant coach in the NHL, I’m sure he could get one but that isn’t going to be a quicker path for him to get promoted.

His experience is with Mclellan and those results by themselves won’t get him a Head Coaching job. It didn’t end well in Edmonton and those Sharks teams were seen as under achievers.

He has two paths he can take now. One would be to start over as an assistant coach in the NHL, be on a successful team for several years and be recognized for the work he’s done. The second would be as a Head Coach for a successful AHL team for a few years. He’s already got one good season in as an AHL coach. Seems to me like he’s on the right path.

He may or may not be angry about what happened with Mclellan. If he is, I could see him not wanting to come back for that reason but I can’t see him being upset enough to leave over not being chosen as Oilers Head Coach this time. This is the Oilers and this roster isn’t good enough for any coach to win in the next few years. There will be another job opening up soon enough and the more success he has in Bakersfield, the more sense it will make for it to be his.

I expect he'll be an NHL head coach at some point in the next couple of years, and likely a pretty good one, but fans have way too much animosity towards the organization for their lateral movements over the past decade. Unless the Condors win the Calder Cup, naming Woodcroft as the next Oilers head coach would be a PR nightmare.

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It would be a mistake naming him next year but all that animosity will fade quickly if he continues to do a good job in Bakersfield. Oiler fans want guys that earn their jobs and have success that justifies getting them. We haven’t seen much of that in this organization for a long time. A few good seasons coaching in the minors will be more than enough to win over the fans. Look what that did for Todd Nelson.

I'd continue to let him work with what he's got in Bakersfield next season. They are doing good things there. If we're still in the market for a coach at the end of next season, yeah I'd be open to it.

Someone like Quennville or Vigneault would be ideal. If you can't land one of those, I'd let Hitch stick around for one more year.

A coaching change won't make a substantial difference next season imo. We'll still be right up against the cap with Lucic, Manning, Spooner, and Kassian's contracts weighing us down. When three of those expire we'll have cap room to play with and set the stage for a productive season.

Edit: Also, I think it's a great idea say two years from now in the sense that we'll have internal solutions making the next step to the NHL. The positive about Woodcroft is that he has experience with our next batch of players (Jones, Bear, Lagesson, Benson, Marody, Yamamoto - and McLeod, Maksimov, & Samourukov for 1 season) which makes his transition into Oilers HC smoother. He'd know what their strengths and weaknesses are, how to utilize them, how to coach them, etc.

I'd continue to let him work with what he's got in Bakersfield next season. They are doing good things there. If we're still in the market for a coach at the end of next season, yeah I'd be open to it.

Someone like Quennville or Vigneault would be ideal. If you can't land one of those, I'd let Hitch stick around for one more year.

A coaching change won't make a substantial difference next season imo. We'll still be right up against the cap with Lucic, Manning, Spooner, and Kassian's contracts weighing us down. When three of those expire we'll have cap room to play with and set the stage for a productive season.

Edit: Also, I think it's a great idea say two years from now in the sense that we'll have internal solutions making the next step to the NHL. The positive about Woodcroft is that he has experience with our next batch of players (Jones, Bear, Lagesson, Benson, Marody, Yamamoto - and McLeod, Maksimov, & Samourukov for 1 season) which makes his transition into Oilers HC smoother. He'd know what their strengths and weaknesses are, how to utilize them, how to coach them, etc.

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You don’t think coaching would make a substantial difference? Who would have thought that after us going through about 10 coaches. Pick any coach, Quenville, whoever, won’t make a difference with this roster/culture instilled here.

You don’t think coaching would make a substantial difference? Who would have thought that after us going through about 10 coaches. Pick any coach, Quenville, whoever, won’t make a difference with this roster/culture instilled here.

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My point is that both McLellan and Hitch are both solid coaches. Provide a respectable coach with a poorly constructed roster, they'll have trouble making the playoffs.

You know what helps culture? Winning. Get all the character guys you want, find the right coach that knows how to reach his players, but as long as you continue to suck (especially in Edmonton's hockey bubble) it's hard to have a positive culture.

Quenville would be a great coach, but I don't see him getting our current roster to the playoffs.

Woodcroft has had a ton of success this year with our pretty limited prospect pool in the AHL, even with our multiple callups of our higher end guys in yam and jones.

The condors are sitting at 15th in PK% and 9th in PP%.

They're also 15th in goals for, and third in goals against despite 3/4 goalies they've dressed having god awful numbers, and the one that is having the most success being a rookie who seemingly came out of nowhere.

He's also doing something many of us have wanted forever out of our AHL club, and that is playing our prospects in key roles as opposed to relying soley on his vets to win games.

I can't find his contact length, but I assume it was 5 years like Tmac, so he's a free man after next season I believe.

This all makes me wonder whether he'll stick around, or of he'll end up following Todd if he gets hired somewhere, or perhaps signing on somewhere else altogether in an attempt to get a HC gig.

Which brings me to my question, what would you think if the oilers made him the new head coach come this summer?

I can't really decide how I'd feel about it, but I think i could live with it.

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I agree with those saying it's too early. Absolutely keep the guy. He has done great in Bakersfield but in a perfect world he continues in that much needed role successfully for a few years.

Another factor is how the Oilers dressing room perceives him. I can't help but think McLellan overrode Woodcroft on everything. Either that or he is just using McLellans systems in the ahl and it works really well. Any which way, the Oilers may not take him seriously if he was just McLellans yes man in the locker room.

Im not opposed to the idea just would rather him continue to have success down there AND get a new coach up here that can win in today's NHL.

I don’t know enough about his coaching style to say whether he should be considered. The new GM needs to have a strong vision in how he wants to build this team and the coaching philosophy and style needs to mesh - besides Chia’s many blunders, I still feel this is where he fell flat on his face. He had no vision on how he wanted to build the team.

We’re going to have a new GM, new POHO (assuming the new GM doesnt wear both hats), and he is going to want his own coach in there. Woody seems to be developing prospects down there instead of overplaying AHL veterans to pad their win totals like our AHL coached have been doing for years and years, so he has my respect for that. Hopefully it gets noticed elsewhere and he gets his shot somewhere down the road, somewhere else. It wont likely be here and thats just how it works.